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Hacker targets Xbox Live director

Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb has online account hijacked through Xbox.com as part of underground group's publicity bid.

Xbox Live director of programming Larry Hryb has for some time now been the face of Microsoft's online platform for the Xbox 360, thanks in large part to his Major Nelson persona. Unfortunately, Xbox Live's figurehead saw his gamertag defaced over the weekend after a hacker was able to log into Hryb's account.

As documented in a profanity-laced online video shot by the individual in question, Major Nelson's gamertag was hijacked through Xbox.com. The video indicates that the gamertag usurper achieved full access to Hryb's online information, revealing a handful of personal details, Microsoft points currency, and friends lists in the process. In the video, the hacker offers to perform similar services for anyone willing to pay $60.

The man behind the mouse isn't Major Nelson.

The man behind the mouse isn't Major Nelson.

In a post to his Twitter feed, Xbox Live director of policy and enforcement Stephen Toulouse confirmed that Hryb's account had been compromised. After Microsoft reclaimed Hryb's gamertag early this morning, Toulouse said through his Twitter account that the publisher was investigating the situation and would report back with additional details as they become available.

"Looks like this was very specific and very targeted to Major. I'll look into the details and report back later," Toulouse wrote.

Microsoft had not responded to requests for comment on the situation as of press time.

129 Comments

  • Stuffed_Monkey

    Posted Apr 4, 2010 6:23 pm GMT

    Hopefully Microsoft improves their security, and if they don't...these events will continue to occur.

  • drivemuse

    Posted Apr 2, 2010 5:50 pm GMT

    Hahahaha, awesome.

  • Marky360

    Posted Apr 1, 2010 8:42 pm GMT

    @Jimbo913
    yea I made a new gamertag too but I made sure to not delete my old one because all my game saves were tied to it then one day when I signed in to my old tag it just told me to input a new email and password. and just like that it was fixed. the mis rep told me the same thing. I guess this goes to show u should listen to the ms reps.

  • jimbo913

    Posted Apr 1, 2010 9:05 am GMT

    @Marky360
    Seems this was a big issue last year. Unfortunately for me, I did abandon my old gamertag (jimbo913) (and the achievements) to start over as jimbo91375. It was a pain in the rear though, I was attached to my original account. I should have just waited, but they told me it would never be fixed. Then a few months later, it was fixable. Lesson: don't trust a MS service rep.

  • Marky360

    Posted Mar 31, 2010 11:01 am GMT

    @N-Real
    no it hasn't go to youtube and type in major nelson got hacked u will see the vid and I got the first comment on it

  • Marky360

    Posted Mar 31, 2010 10:55 am GMT

    I just saw the video of the hacker with major nelson's account. major nelson only has 70 ms points on his account I got more then that. U think the director of xbox live could get ms points anytime he wanted.

  • Marky360

    Posted Mar 31, 2010 10:43 am GMT

    @jimbo913
    same crap happened to me too and they did the same thing told me to make a new gamertag. then one day it just let me change my email randomly by itself and the problem was fixed.

  • rangeraa

    Posted Mar 31, 2010 10:42 am GMT

    @mcuth
    For the record...using a wireless adapter if your playing online is pretty silly so I don't even think that is a point worth making...Also $50 a year for XBL is roughly $0.14 a day..Real expensive there bud.

  • Marky360

    Posted Mar 31, 2010 10:40 am GMT

    @x_hunter00
    they should also be powerbombed and chokeslamed through one too

  • x_hunter00

    Posted Mar 31, 2010 10:05 am GMT

    we can all agree that all hackers(and glitchers) should be suplexed through a glass table....but come on this is still funny. ha good for you major nelson

  • 64-bit

    Posted Mar 31, 2010 7:56 am GMT

    i think this is good news

  • jimbo913

    Posted Mar 31, 2010 7:54 am GMT

    Funny how M$ made sure to get this fixed for Major right away, yet it took nearly 4 months for them to change the email for my xbox live account when my live ID expired (after they told me it could not be done and to start a new gamertag).

  • wwonka666

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 10:58 pm GMT

    Freaking hackers. I wonder how many MS points the Major had.

  • falcOWNS

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 6:31 pm GMT

    idiots >_> god i hate hckers, especially the selfish ones

  • Pete5506

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 6:23 pm GMT

    I hope M$ can learn from this

  • mattg90520

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 2:54 pm GMT

    @shadow7871

    yeah, i seriously hope this kid isnt that dumb. i mean, clearly hes smart enough to do the hacking but lacks the intelligence and foresight to see how posting a video (let alone the hacking itself) could ruin his life

  • Shadow7871

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 1:40 pm GMT

    Wow he hacks the Director of Xbox live THEN gets the "AWESOME" idea to put his services onto a video on one of the biggest video sites on the the web do he can get money? Now I don't know if the idiot covered his tracks or not but to hack a big time employee of Microsoft and then brag about it on youtube is just asking to get two police officers to show up at his door and slap some cold iron on his wrists as hes charged for it. Simply put the Banhammer and cops and Big bubba in a 8 by 10 cell A cometh

  • DuncanM908

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 12:10 pm GMT

    This isn't news.

  • rangeraa

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 10:47 am GMT

    " In the video, the hacker offers to perform similar services for anyone willing to pay $60."

    What a loser...Hopefully he steps in front of a bus.

  • Hvac0120

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 10:04 am GMT

    @k2theswiss You can fake an IP address and a MAC address. Considering the level of security the guy broke, I doubt he was dumb enough to attack without covering his tracks. It's going to be difficult for Microsoft to determine the culprit. Doesn't mean they can't do it. It just means there's a lot of work and it could be hard to prove.

    I agree that the person did this over the web to avoid being found through a specific Xbox console.
    _

  • k2theswiss

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 9:48 am GMT

    since this happen top one of there people i hope they thing about adding more protection to the gamertags. because just a email is nothing to hackers today

  • k2theswiss

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 9:47 am GMT

    @ trinity_rdp "Xbox.com is different from the Xbox Live Service in the console. If that was Hacked then that would really suck"

    how is it different?. if you can get on the website you can get on the console. from the website you can buy things change information on the account do anything to it. maybe the guy was scared of Microsoft banning his system if he dared to log onto his console with it. even thought Microsoft has his ip because he log on to website with. if they wanted to they could still ban any console ever log on with the ip then even ban him from xbox.com if they really wanted to

  • trinity_rdp

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 8:55 am GMT

    Xbox.com is different from the Xbox Live Service in the console. If that was Hacked then that would really suck

  • Hvac0120

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 8:40 am GMT

    Mr Stephen Toulouse just finished his PAX East panel where he spoke of how great their security measures are. Just thought that was funny...

    I think it's pretty funny that Major Nelson's tag was compromised. You could have a lot of fun impersonating him in the Xbox community. I don't support hackers doing this stuff, but its going to happen and in this case I found some humor in the results. I sure wouldn't want my account hacked, though.

    Microsoft likely learned a lot about where their security holes are from this break-in.
    _

  • N-REAL

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 8:18 am GMT

    The video has been removed from youtube....

  • enoslives7

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 8:14 am GMT

    microsoft is just way too easy to hack

  • Sameo

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 8:11 am GMT

    anyone listen to the guys voice? it sounds like an asian with braces or a retainer lmao

  • SteeleInd

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 8:04 am GMT

    Yeah I guess you guys all missed the part about "Xbox.com". The hacker didn't compromise the Xbox Live Service. He simply hacked Major Nelson's password on Xbox.com to get into his account.

    This same thing happens on social networking websites like Facebook and Myspace all the time. Not to mention online stores like eBay or Amazon. It's pretty commonplace.

  • shkar

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 7:50 am GMT

    I bet he is a fatarse......

  • AkiraSAS

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 4:48 am GMT

    @ Soulreavercross
    Very true, definitely Xbox will send an update to all consoles shortly with security patch in it for sure....

  • Soulreavercross Site moderator

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 4:24 am GMT

    I'm actually really happy this happened. I hope it serves a wake up call for microsoft to improve their security

  • VG_Sonic

    Posted Mar 30, 2010 2:43 am GMT

    This could be a good thing because now they might increase security.

  • Jawad2007

    Posted Mar 29, 2010 11:59 pm GMT

    dont worry microsoft gonna speed more security !!

  • Shotbreak

    Posted Mar 29, 2010 11:09 pm GMT

    The hackers who do it for fun or to make a point but don't screw with people are alright in my books, but stupid people like this dude from Miami (anybody can catch this guy with common sense) are just a sad waste of space.

  • fionndruinne

    Posted Mar 29, 2010 10:28 pm GMT

    Gamers are awesome and cool people.

    There is no sarcasm to that statement whatsoever.

  • BrickTamland314

    Posted Mar 29, 2010 9:26 pm GMT

    please tell me he didn't leave his contact info on the video so people could reach him for his services

  • OfficialBed

    Posted Mar 29, 2010 9:23 pm GMT

    Ouch...that sucks. I hope this guy gets caught.

  • sirmourinho posted Mar 29, 2010 9:14 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    sirmourinho

    Posted Mar 29, 2010 9:14 pm GMT (hide)

    i say that the hacker has done a good thing maybe xbox sales will go down due to security.
    go nintendo/sony

  • shoelaces-4-all

    Posted Mar 29, 2010 8:10 pm GMT

    yeah... so how is this guy not going to get caught? I mean he actually offered for people to contact him so they can pay him a measly $60 to hack an account... and for what purpose would you hack an account? one that is worth $60 that you could get away with. Its not like you can hack an account and gift yourself the account holder's ms points. So anyway, if he actually goes ahead and tries to do this as some sort of business, it will be so easy for him to be caught... 1-Its microsoft... 2-In seeking payment for your services you will have to provide some means of contact to accept the payment of the said $60. Given the fact that this is a criminal issue, investigators will have the resources and access to information that will likely get this guy caught. so... what is the point exactly? I dont get it. It only serves to make yourself look like a flaming idiot. Oh and did anybody watch that video? The guy sounds stupider than you can imagine someone doing this could be..

  • zeebenzene

    Posted Mar 29, 2010 7:46 pm GMT

    What an idiot. Why in the dragon's name would you hack Microsoft. Things like this make me slightly sad. What idiots there are in the world, hacking people and making viruses for fun. Gah! I'm going to go to sleep, stupid social networking sites..

  • Red122

    Posted Mar 29, 2010 7:46 pm GMT

    This isnt right by any means people like this is the trash in the world that need to be dealt with just a bunch of punk kids who think they are some gangster when they are just lil punk kids who isnt nothing. Really pathetic

  • mateodc8

    Posted Mar 29, 2010 6:47 pm GMT

    @Rafandrews what you get by hacking a psn account could cost you (if it happened to you) alot of money because they would get all credit card info and maybe even your address and other stuff that could end up to be money and maybe even security to you and your family in the future.

  • luffy11234

    Posted Mar 29, 2010 6:38 pm GMT

    again because u loved me before, xbox for being so darn good gets a big persons account hacked, ha XD

  • Rafandrews

    Posted Mar 29, 2010 6:36 pm GMT

    @thorugfire
    This proves nothing. I bet this could happen to any other online gaming service. The reason why it happened to Xbox Live is because there is an incentive for hackers. The incentive being that Live costs money. On another note. What would a hacker get by stealing a PSN account?

  • UnknownForm

    Posted Mar 29, 2010 6:15 pm GMT

    And what is up with all the "hate" for Major Nelson, he's just doing his job.

  • ohsogood8

    Posted Mar 29, 2010 6:04 pm GMT

    I dont care if youre a fanboy or not, we shouldnt be cheering for these idiots. i'd have freaked if anything of mine got hacked!!!

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